‘Lucifer’ Returns for Season 5 and it’s a Fun Binge-Watch

Lucifer premiered back in 2016, but I discovered it recently and caught up just in time for season 5 — and I’ve got to say, it’s one hell of an entertaining show. Lucifer is about the devil himself living in Los Angeles because he’s bored of Hell. While in the City of Angels, he owns a nightclub and solves crime for the LAPD. The show first premiered on FOX, but was cancelled after its third season. Fortunately, Netflix picked it up, and now the show’s in its 5th season. The first part of season 5 just came out, but it’s unknown when the second part will arrive. Hopefully, it comes out soon because the first half ended on a cliffhanger. It was a good cliffhanger though, so can’t really complain.

Lucifer is a show with both comedy and drama, but most importantly, has charm. Well aware it’s following a silly premise, the show does so in a way that’s entertaining. Sure, sometimes it can be cheesy, but fun cheese. Though, sometimes it can be a slog to get through. (Looking at you Season 3, you being 24 episodes and all. The other seasons were less than 20 episodes and that was enough.)

The show mainly has an episodic structure with a crime that has to be solved each episode. It can get repetitive, but when it returns to the main plot, its really good. Not first seasons of Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad level good, but still good. Season 4 had strayed a bit from that familiar structure, and I liked it better that way. Season 5 returns to it, but doesn’t feel as repetitive as before. With only 8 episodes so far, the season’s fairly solid and we finally get our two leads together. I’m not the biggest fan of the two main characters falling in love in shows, but our leads here have such an intriguing relationship, I let it pass.

Lucifer (Tom Ellis) is without a doubt the best part of the show. He’s charming, handsome, and just an overall fun character. Ellis also plays Lucifer’s twin brother, Michael, who appears as the season’s villain. While I’m not in favor of the evil twin brother trope, I will have to say that Ellis is decent at playing two different characters. Michael is a complete jerk and you just want to punch that attractive face of his. Chloe (Lauren German) also shines this season. In earlier seasons, I wasn’t the biggest fan of her, but she becomes tougher, particularly when she deals with Michael who’s pretending to be Lucifer.

Though, while most characters have an arc, Maze (Lesley-Ann Brandt) has a circle. She was awesome in earlier seasons, but now she seems to be stuck in a perpetual cycle of going against Lucifer, siding with the season’s bad guy, and then realizing her wrongdoings afterward. The first time around it was interesting, but after the second time, it’s gotten old.

That’s one of the problems with the show: sometimes characters revert back to their old selves and it’s frustrating to watch them act in ways they shouldn’t. It was particularly bad with Season 3, but with Netflix picking up the show, the writing has been better. However, Maze definitely needs more work. Like, c’mon, she’s a dual-wielding demon who has some of the best action scenes in the show, she shouldn’t be annoying.

As far as diversity goes, Chloe is a strong female lead and some of the main cast are POC, such as Maze, and Lucifer’s much kinder brother, Amenadiel (D. B . Woodside). Amenadiel turns out to be God’s first son, and he and Lucifer have a good brotherly relationship. Amenadiel’s also in an interracial relationship with Linda (Rachael Harris) who, as a therapist, helps the characters’ problems — including Lucifer.

Getting back to Maze, she’s still interesting for the most part, and even had a nice relationship with Eve (Inbar Lavi) last season. Eve unfortunately disappeared, but hopefully she comes back and helps Maze out of her dilemma. One of the reasons that Maze is so uptight this season is that she feels abandoned, and so she needs assurance that she’s not alone — and getting into fights with the devil won’t solve that.

Despite its flaws, Lucifer is still a decent show. Yes, it can be cheesy as hell but it’s still entertaining. Season 5 so far is as delightful as the other seasons, and it holds some nice surprises that have me excited for the second part.

Originally published by Lauren Massuda on August 23, 2020